This restaurant was recommended by my boyfriend’s friend who is Italian – shockingly, we only recently found out he’s half Italian! Anyway, one night after many 2 for 1 Guinness’ at Fionn MacCools we were hungry and we didn’t really want to eat at the bar. After a couple of minutes of standing at the street corner we decided to try this place out.

The restaurant itself was quite nice, except we were seated at some weird table right by the door. I didn’t quite like that, but whatever. We could see the kitchen and all the food being prepared and noticed some longer tables for larger parties. Aside from those 2 things, it was nothing special, but really, do you need something extremely fancy? I will say, it does have that “romantic, date place” feel to it.

I’m not familiar with what distinguishes food from different regions of Italy, but this restaurant claims to serve up “authentic Northern Italian food”. I’m going to assume the menu indeed reflects the fact, but my lack of knowledge led me to believe it was about the same as any other Italian restaurant.

As Italian food is one of my favourite foods, I was quite excited to try this place out!

Mozzarella di Bufala in Camicia di Prosciutto Originale di Parma

This was our appetizer – Buffalo mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto on a bed of fresh greens, tossed in balsamic vinegar reduction and Parmigiano-Reggiano on top. I love Buffalo mozzarella! It’s creamy, it’s soft, it melts in your mouth…so good! Like all mozzarella, it’s subtle so the prosciutto provided some nice flavour. My only criticism is the prosciutto was a little over-powering and you couldn’t exactly enjoy or appreciate the mozzarella it wrapped around. The dressing was really nice! I enjoyed the sweetness of the balsamic vinegar reduction!

Strozzapreti alla Romagnola

My boyfriend had this as his entree, “Strangle the Priest”. It’s a pasta sauteed with sausage ragout, baby spinach and Parmigiano-Reggiano. His friend was the one who recommended this particular dish and for good reason! It was really really good! I’m not sure where to begin, perhaps the fresh pasta. As I’m writing this I can almost feel the texture of the fresh pasta. I like dried pasta very much, but you can’t get the same “chewiness” in dried pasta like you can with fresh. The difference is like night and day. Sauteed pastas are definitely my favs and this one had a great balance of flavours. You really just gotta try it!

Stinco di cinghiale Funghi e Risotto alla Milanese

I chose one of the chef suggestions: Wild Boar leg slowly braised with mushrooms with Milanese risotto. Like heaven. Braised anything is good because the meat is always fall off the bone, tender and juicy. This was exactly that! Seasoned well and most importantly, not too salty!! I’m always a little apprehensive when I see dishes like this because it can either be good or salty. My mediocre/bad experiences have centered around the saltiness of the juice. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case!! Perfect. The risotto was also good! Again, really afraid it would be salty – sometimes there is too much Parmigiano and it makes it too sticky and salty. This one was excellent. I liked the fact it wasn’t too cheesy or heavy!

Dessert

I didn’t take a picture of dessert u____u But we had a really yummy homemade pistachio gelato!!!

In terms of pricing, enjoying a meal doesn’t have to be expensive here. Obviously, my boyfriend and I had quite the extravagant dinner complete with wine as well – but if you came in for just a plate, it’s not that expensive. Pasta entrees average around 14-16$, while secondi averages around 25$.

They also have free parking ;) So if you’re around, want a nice place to take a date, have a party, consider Romagna Mia.